Chinese teen flogs kidney to buy iPad

Fondleslab funding foolishness

A Chinese teenager desperate to get his hands on an iPad allegedly sold a kidney to raise some fondleslab funding.

According to various news reports, 17-year-old Zheng travelled from the city of Huaishan in Anhui Province to Chenzhou in neighbouring Hunan Province, after hooking up with an internet intermediary.

Zheng explained to Shenzhen TV: "I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it. A broker contacted me on the internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan (£1,900)."

He arrived on 28 April at Chenzhou No 198 Hospital and was met by three middlemen who relieved him of his right kidney in return for a total cash payment of 22,000 yuan. After three days, he was discharged and returned home bearing "a laptop and an iPhone", according to Global Times.*

His mother was unsurprisingly suspicious. She told Shenzen TV: "I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys."

She dragged her son back to Chenzhou to report the crime but police were unable to raise the three mystery middlemen on their mobile phones.

The hospital said it had no idea about the operation, but admitted it had rented out its urology department to a "businessman" from Fujian Province.

Zheng's health is now reportedly suffering as a result of his monorenal state. ®

Bootnote

* Details vary, according to which source you're reading, which is often the case with news from China.